Al-Ittihad's Missed Chances Lead to Draw Against Abha
Al-Ittihad’s night began with a wince and ended with a groan.
What should have been a routine assignment against the league’s bottom side turned into a bruising reminder of how fragile confidence can be, and how unforgiving the game is when you leave the door ajar.
Early injury, early anxiety
The tone was set inside seven minutes. A fierce challenge in a scramble for a loose ball left Richard Rios on the turf, the Colombia international immediately signalling trouble. He tried to carry on. He couldn’t.
Rios limped off in obvious pain, and Jens Fissing had no choice but to turn to Ahmed Al-Ghamdi far earlier than planned. One enforced change, one key midfielder gone, and a team already juggling its workload with an Asian clash against Al-Ain on the horizon suddenly looked unsettled.
The disruption showed. Passes went astray, the tempo stuttered, and the crowd’s early energy dipped into a murmur.
Aouar denied, frustration grows
Al-Ittihad thought they had found their spark when Houssem Aouar steered the ball into the net, only to see celebrations cut short. The assistant’s flag was up, and after the check the decision stood: no goal.
The infringement came from Danilo Pereira, the Portuguese midfielder adjudged to have handled in the build-up after striking the ball before it slipped from the goalkeeper’s grasp and fell kindly for Aouar. The Algerian’s finish didn’t count, the score stayed level, and so did the tension.
For Jens Fissing’s side, it was another jolt. Momentum, briefly in their grasp, was snatched away.
A gift finally taken
After the interval, Al-Ittihad came out with more purpose. They pushed higher, moved the ball quicker, and began to pin Abha back into their own half. The pressure started to feel relentless.
It took a mistake to break them.
In the 52nd minute, the Abha goalkeeper suffered a moment that will haunt him. A routine touch turned disastrous as the ball ricocheted off his feet and straight into the path of Aouar. The Algerian didn’t hesitate. One touch, one calm finish, and Al-Ittihad finally had the opener they had been chasing.
The goal should have settled them. Instead, it exposed their biggest problem of the night: a failure to kill the game.
Missed chances, missed opportunity
With Abha forced to open up, space began to appear. Al-Ittihad carved out the sort of chances that usually bury struggling sides. They didn’t take them.
As the minutes ticked away, the search for a second goal grew more frantic. On the touchline, the response came in the form of a reshuffle. Vieira turned to his bench, sending on George Ilenikhena and Marwan Al-Sahafi to freshen the attack and punish the gaps Abha were starting to leave as they chased an equaliser.
The idea was clear: finish the contest before nerves had a say.
They couldn’t land the knockout blow.
VAR twist and a late sting
The decisive twist arrived on 82 minutes. Al-Ittihad thought they had finally found the second goal that would secure the points. The celebrations were real, the sense of relief almost visible.
Then VAR intervened.
The goal was wiped out after the review, and with it went the cushion Al-Ittihad craved. The score stayed at 1-0, and suddenly the dynamic flipped. Abha, clinging on all night, sensed there was still something in this for them.
They threw bodies forward. Every clearance came straight back. Every loose ball felt dangerous.
The punishment for Al-Ittihad’s wastefulness arrived in the 87th minute. A loose, misjudged pass from defender Muhannad Al-Shanqeeti was seized upon by substitute Faisal Al-Subiani, who pounced and struck the equaliser. One lapse, one ruthless response.
From a position of control, Al-Ittihad were dragged level by the league’s bottom club.
Two points thrown away
There was no late rescue. Al-Ittihad pushed, but the clarity had gone. Abha, emboldened by their lifeline, dug in and refused to yield again.
When the whistle went, the verdict was simple: two precious points dropped in a race where Al-Ittihad can scarcely afford such slips. Against the bottom side, with the lead, with chances to finish the job, they walked away with only a draw.
Abha, battered for long spells, left with something far more valuable than their performance suggested they might earn — a hard-fought, unlikely point, carved out through stubborn defending and seized in a single, clinical moment.
For Al-Ittihad, the question now is not how this happened. It’s whether nights like this become the exception, or the pattern that defines their season.
